As you already realize, this blog is going to be about my venture to Vans Warped Tour 2010 in Detroit, Michigan. This was my first time going to Warped Tour so let's just say I was ecstatic to be able to attend the so-called punk rock summer camp. My day started bright and early at 6 AM, leaving my house for Comerica Park in Detroit (about a two hour drive). After we got there and finally got inside, I checked out some of the tents inside the park and than headed outside to lose my Warped Tour virginity and let me say it was everything I expected!

I started out the day with checking out Pierce The Veil. I only stayed for them long enough to hear the first song they played (Caraphernelia) and after they were done with this song I headed over to the main stage to catch Bring Me The Horizon and boy was I in for a surprise. I had no idea that I was going to be in the center of chaos! Right when Oli Sykes came out and started bellowing "We will never sleep, cause sleep is for the weak!" all hell broke loose and I found myself in the middle of a human storm of people. Before I knew it I became seperated from my friends in a struggle to get out of there before I died! (I'm a small guy not meant for mosh pits). After I finally escaped the madness and found my friends I enjoyed the rest of BMTH's set from a safe distance, but left before their last song to get a good spot for my top band of the day, Set Your Goals. And I am so happy that I did, because it was arguably the best set I saw all day.

I ended up right in the front row and was so pumped and when they came out the whole crowd erupted. They came out firing on all cylinders, opening with the heavy Gaia Bleeds and the crowd's reaction was infectious. Their whole set was sprinkled with plenty of old songs and plenty of new ones (from Echoes to Goonies Never Say Die to my personal favorite Summer Jam) and I was having the time of my life, jumping and singing along to every word. After the crazyness subsided and SYG was finished I headed over to the Ernie Ball stage to check out a local band called Act As One and they didn't disappoint. Delivering heavy pop-punk that had the whole (surprisingly large) crowd going nuts.

After a few songs from AAO, I left to reunite with my friends again as we watched the opening song from Andrew W.K. I'm not a fan of him so I left my friends once again to go inside to catch my favorite local band Your Best Friend. The place they were playing was not really music friendly so the sound quality wasn't very good but YBF's crazy energy made up for it and made me satisfied that I missed out on Breathe Carolina to see them.

After YBF's awesome set, I went back outside to catch a bunch of bands that were playing at the same time. I ran as fast as I could to get out to the Glamour Kills stage and catch Alesana before they started but when I got out there they were already playing and the crowd was one of the biggest I saw all day. So I stayed for a few songs and let me say that their vocalist Shawn Milke was the best live singer I saw all day. He hit all the notes that he does on the album and I gave him huge props for that, but I got frustrated with how far away I was so I left to catch some of We Are The In Crowd's set.

WATIC had the smallest crowd of the bands that I saw but that wasn't surprising. All of the members were really good but the female singer (her name escapes me) was just dreadful so I headed on over to the Altec stage to catch Attack Attack! They came out and started playing some song I never heard so I became rather uninterested and went inside to get something to eat.

I met up with my friends again and after having a bite to eat I had some time to kill before the next band I wanted to see (I See Stars). So I decided to catch We The Kings' set on the main stage. I'm not as big of a fan of these guys as I used to be but I didn't have anything better to do, but I was glad that I saw them as they were one of the best bands I saw all day. The highlight of their set (to me) was their cover of The Middle by Jimmy Eat World. That song is near and dear to me so I was ecstatic when I heard the opening riff and I got just as into it as a 12 year-old girl at a Jonas Brothers concert. Another highlight was the contribution of Cassidy from Hey Monday on the song that Demi Lovato recorded with WTK (forgot what it was called) and I was blown away by her performance. She had an incredible voice which almost made me question if she was lip syncing or not, but either way incredible.

After WTK were done I headed back over to the Altec stage to see I See Stars. At this point I was really tired so I just watched the whole set from afar and it was altogether unimpressive but I enjoyed it all the same. Once ISS finished I had more time to kill and just relaxed catching glympses of Eyes Set To Kill and Closure In Moscow's sets at the Ernie Ball stage and than when the time came, we headed over back to the Glamour Kills stage early to get a good spot for Sum 41. As we waited Nevershoutnever was playing his set on the AP/Advent stage (which was literally 100 feet from the Glamour Kills stage) and me being the big pansy that I am knew most of the songs and I enjoyed singing along to them as I waited, and Mr. Drew's performance was really not that bad.

And now the event of the day! Nevershoutnever just finishes. The crowd's chanting "Sum 41! Sum 41! Sum 41!" and when they came out onto the stage and jumped right into The Hell Song, shivers went up my spine and you may have saw a glimpse of the 12 year old me jumping up and down screaming "Part of me won't agree! Cause I don't know if it's for sure!" Heck I'm getting chills right now just thinking about it! Sum 41 continued playing all of their old songs which was a huge pleasure for me as I'm not a fan of their new stuff, and ended with the obvious fan favorite Fat Lip leaving this as the one set that contended Set Your Goals' performance as best set of the day.

This concluded my first year of Warped Tour and I left feeling exhausted and satisfied with a smile on my face. It was the highlight of my summer and I already can't wait for Warped Tour 2011!